The gigabeat MEV30K doesn’t make a good first impression. Its housing is made of shiny plastic-and 
lots of it. This unit lacks the Archos 604’s beautiful aluminum construction. In fact, Archos builds the same size screen (3.5 inches) into a significantly smaller unit. By contrast, the MEV30K’s two-tone case tries but fails to hide the unit’s imposing girth.
The thumb control is downright strange. It’s suitably large and has a good amount of range in its movement, but in an attempt to isolate it from being bumped while in a pocket, Toshiba recessed it into the casing and surrounded it with a chrome plastic ring. As a result, the control is both difficult and uncomfortable to use.
On the plus side, we like the front-facing Menu, Back, and Volume keys. Some people might prefer a cleaner design with fewer buttons (such as-ahem-a click wheel). But Toshiba’s multiple-button approach worked well when navigating the slick Portable Media Center 2.0. :: LAPTOP Magazine • Toshiba gigabeat MEV30K ::